https://padlet.com/staple_leah/whkd6nzrawtl Made with the best of intentions en-us 2016-09-18 15:42:00 UTC 2016-10-06 00:04:24 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Lightdecrease.png staple_leah https://padlet.com/staple_leah/whkd6nzrawtl/wish/124570071 I decided to just stop and start over properly.

I began with reading the course guide carefully with every intention of not feeling overwhelmed.

I kind of like padlet hahaha 

This is indeed an interesting way to log my reflections!

I did the Vark test and learned that I learn from doing, so this reading course might be some what of a challenge but I feel revamped and ready to conquer!]]> 2016-09-18 15:44:58 UTC https://padlet.com/staple_leah/whkd6nzrawtl/wish/124570071 staple_leah https://padlet.com/staple_leah/whkd6nzrawtl/wish/124571536 I thought I knew why I did customer surveys at my job. I thought it was simply about discerning what customers were willing to buy and at what price.

I never before considered the other reasons for conducting these researches. Now that I reflect, I see how customers were given ideas of how our business could expand  as well as how their feedback could have been used to create better marketing strategies.  This was an eye opener to the many benefits of conducting proper research.

In all my studies I tried to remain as objective as possible because I truly believed that research had to be purely objective to be considered reliable. After going through this unit I realised that the question being asked would determine the approach to research.

I regret not doing this during the allotted time as the quiz at the end of session one had already expired. This would have been an ideal way to test my understanding, I know better now!

Abigail signing out again lol]]> 2016-09-18 16:10:14 UTC https://padlet.com/staple_leah/whkd6nzrawtl/wish/124571536 staple_leah https://padlet.com/staple_leah/whkd6nzrawtl/wish/124578033 This unit covered various topics including the research process and the literature review.

I learned about the various stages involved in the research process. I found the videos to really help in clarifying the concepts covered. 

The literature review process was the most interesting session. Prior to this experience I did not fully understand why we were required to do literature review. I thought it was simply to find persons that supported my perceptions. This unit has brought greater insight as to the importance of searching literature such as helping to identify what is already known about a topic, to prevent the researcher from reinventing the wheel on studies already completed, to identify questions that have yet to be asked and to direct the researcher to ask the best question to add to existing knowledge.]]> 2016-09-18 17:50:15 UTC https://padlet.com/staple_leah/whkd6nzrawtl/wish/124578033 staple_leah https://padlet.com/staple_leah/whkd6nzrawtl/wish/128028127
From this unit I have a deeper understanding of the purpose behind doing the research proposal. As I have learned from thus unit the proposal is the foundation of the study as it is basically the blueprint t guide the researcher.

The quality of work invested in the research proposal will determine the quality of the research paper. It is also critical to the management team as this document would indicate whether the research will satisfy the needs of the company in finding out what they deem to be important.

I also learned that though the information in the research proposal and report may seem similar in numerous ways the most significant difference is that the proposal will indicate what needs to be done while the report will outline what was done.

As I suffer from a speech impediment I was not at all eager for session three, however some of the videos provided were indeed useful and I hope to improve me oral presentation skills.]]> 2016-10-03 22:55:46 UTC https://padlet.com/staple_leah/whkd6nzrawtl/wish/128028127 staple_leah https://padlet.com/staple_leah/whkd6nzrawtl/wish/128659813 In this unit I learned the difference between quantitative research methods and qualitative research methods, along with mixed approaches to research (including both quantitative and qualitative methods).

I also learned about measurement in research and what i found to be quite interesting is that attitudes can be measured. I never considered choice to be a means of measurement until having completed this unit. In this session I also learned that for a measurement to be considered as credible it has to be reliable, valid and sensitive.

I also learned that sampling  is “a procedure that uses a small number of units of a given population as a basis for drawing conclusions about the whole population”  Zikmund et al. (2009). In this unit I discovered that sampling is used for many reasons including to save time and money as opposed to surveying the entire population to which the study applies. Within the session on sampling the information was vast and provided me with many options to explore when conducting research.]]> 2016-10-05 23:29:45 UTC https://padlet.com/staple_leah/whkd6nzrawtl/wish/128659813